Nikki Haley Wins Her First Primary Contest

Nikki Haley has won her first primary contest of the 2024 election, defeating Donald Trump in Washington, DC, the AP reports. The victory wasn't a surprise and isn't expected to have much of an effect on the GOP race, per the Washington Post. Still, her victory at least temporarily halts Trump's sweep of the GOP contests, although the former president is bound to pick up several hundred more delegates in this week's Super Tuesday races. Trump also lost DC to Sen. Marco Rubio back in 2016, a rare defeat for him in that primary season. The former president did not even campaign in DC this year, though Haley visited on Friday.

Only 19 delegates were at stake in Washington, which is one of the most heavily Democratic jurisdictions in the nation. The city has only about 23,000 registered Republicans. Democrat Joe Biden won the district in the 2020 general election with 92% of the vote. Haley, while campaigning as an avowed conservative, has tended to perform better among more moderate and independent-leaning voters. (Haley needs to rack up at least five victories to have any kind of clout at the convention.)